Hearings, orders and decisions

This page gives information about hearings of ICAEW's Disciplinary and Appeal Committees; details of future hearings; and reports of the findings and other orders made.

Public hearings

Hearings of tribunals of the Disciplinary Committee and panels of the Appeal Committee are normally open to the public. If a hearing is going to be held in public, we publish details seven days before the hearing (see details below). These details include:

the defendant or appellant's name;

the terms of the formal complaint; and

the date, time and place of the hearing.

Members of the press or public who attend a hearing are entitled to hear what is said but they are not entitled to see written material.

We also publish full reports of both disciplinary orders and regulatory decisions made in the last 12 months (see the panel below).

Applying beforehand for a hearing to be held in private

If you think your hearing should be held in private, you must apply to the chairman in writing and give your reasons. You must send your application to:

We must receive your application within 14 days of when you received details of the hearing date. If you can't apply within 14 days, the chairman can consider giving you a further 14 days. You must be able to satisfy the chairman in writing that you could not reasonably have made the application within the original 14 days.

If the chairman refuses your application, they give you their reasons in writing.

ICAEW is entitled to give the chairman its views on your application for the hearing to be held in private within seven days of receiving it. We copy your application to any other party.

If you don't apply beforehand, or if the chairman refuses your application, you can still make an application on the day of the hearing. You should bear in mind, however, that details of your case will already be in the public domain (on this page); members of the public may be there; and your application may be refused. Your application to the tribunal will be in private.

The tribunal chairman will give the reason(s) for any decision to grant or refuse a private hearing.

Applying on the day for a hearing to be held in private

At the hearing, you may still ask the tribunal whether it is prepared to proceed in private. This would usually be on the first day of a hearing, but the tribunal can exercise the power to sit in private at any stage, even if none of the parties have asked it to do so; for example, if it's necessary to protect the identity of a third party. However, we can never guarantee anonymity.

When a tribunal agrees to hold all or part of the hearing in private, it gives its reasons on the day, and in public. The tribunal also gives these reasons in writing if the complaint is found proved.

The tribunal has the power to proceed in private by excluding the press or public from the whole or any part of a hearing, whether or not the parties ask it to do so. It can do this at any stage of a hearing or during a pre-trial review. When it decides whether to exclude anyone, the tribunal considers whether:

the interests of justice

any other special reason or

the particular circumstances of the case

outweigh the public interest in holding a public hearing. The tribunal must also be satisfied that both parties have been given an opportunity to make representations.

What information is published?

All written material and information provided by ICAEW or a defendant in connection with disciplinary proceedings is confidential, including any application to proceed in private. We do, however, publish details of hearings (seven days before the hearing if it's due to proceed in public) and a record of the decision. These are published on this page .

Members of the press or public attending a hearing may not see written material.

Publication of defendant’s details

If a hearing is going to be in public, we publish:

the defendant’s name;

the terms of the formal complaint; and

the date, time and place of the hearing

on this page seven days before the hearing.

Details of future disciplinary and appeals hearings

This section gives details of public hearings taking place in the next seven days. Dates of hearings may be subject to change.

Name of defendant

Mr Francis John Birchall ACA (010511)

Complaint

The complaint is that Mr Francis John Birchall ACA is liable to disciplinary action under Disciplinary Bye-law 4.1.c and Disciplinary Bye-law 4.1.a

Date of hearing

18 February 2015

Time

10:30

Place

Chartered Accountants’ Hall, Moorgate, London EC2R 6EA

Name of defendant

Mr Hossein Youssefi FCA (015484)

Complaint

The complaint is that Mr Hossein Youssefi FCA is liable to disciplinary action under Disciplinary Bye-law 4.1.a and Disciplinary Bye-law 4.1.c

Date of hearing

18 February 2015

Time

10:30

Place

Chartered Accountants’ Hall, Moorgate, London EC2R 6EA

Disciplinary orders and regulatory decisions

Decisions published in the last 12 months

This section lists all disciplinary and regulatory decisions published in the last 12 months. If you have any questions about decisions that are not listed here, please call +44 (0)1908 546 293.

Disciplinary decisions made under ICAEW’s bye-laws have to be published. The one exception is a caution.

Once a report has been removed from this page, details of cases may still be available on other websites or in search results.